So these are the levels of the people, and their ranks in the Abode of the Hereafter, as mentioned by Ibnul-Qayyim (died 752 AH) and they are eighteen in number. The highest level is that of the Messengers, may Allaah extol and grant them perfect peace and security.
These levels, as you will see, comprehend all the types of Mankind and Jinn: their old and their young, the Muslims and the Unbelievers, the obedient and the disobedient, their people of knowledge and their ignorant ones, the leaders from them and the subjects. The Imaam, the verifier, Ibnul-Qayyim mentioned them in his valuable book 'Tareequl-Hijratayn wa Baabus-Sa'aadatayn' (‘Two Migrations and the Door to the Two States of Bliss’). And by 'the two Migrations', he meant migrating towards Allaah and to His Messenger through true Faith (Eemaan), love, and obedience; and by 'the two states of Bliss' he meant the Bliss of this world and the Hereafter for those who were true Believers and who performed righteous and correct deeds.
So this is a marvelous classification in which he explained what is for or against each level. It includes the correct Belief ('Aqeedah) with regard to the Prophets, and the Messengers, and the righteous servants of Allaah - and their virtues, ranks, and the reward that Allaah, the Most High, has prepared for them; and it includes the virtues of righteous and correct deeds; just as it includes the correct Belief regarding the Hyocrites (al-Munaafiqoon), and the Unbelievers, and those who associate others with Allaah in worship - and what He has prepared for them from torment and humiliation.
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